Spirits Old and New
by Crashed TC
Summary: An adventure taking place long after the age of the Gold Sun.
1. From The Beginning

(Author's Note: I started this a couple of weeks ago and I've edited it like twenty times an I'll probably do it again. I think its a cross between Golden Sun battling and the Pokemon league set up as well as Digimon spirit stuff, mind you I thought about the spirit stuff before I saw Digimon's stuff. I do however fear that it could end up being too much like power rangers, which royally scares me, but I shall try to prevent that as best I can. All comments are welcome, constructive ones at least... Enjoy!)  
  
  
  
FROM THE BEGINNING  
  
The stars sparkled above as four teenagers lay head to head, almost forming a cross, in the fresh spring grass. They listened to the insects buzzing around them in the moonlight. Bats swam across the sky hunting for sweet fruits. An owl above them flew from its perch as a ball of flames erupted from a young girl's hand.  
  
"I can't believe we can finally leave tomorrow, it took you two long enough to turn sixteen." The girl holding the fireball giggled. She had long red hair, watery blue eyes and lightly tanned skin. She is what you'd call the guts of the group.  
  
Another girl, twisting a flower between her fingers, sat up and shot the first girl a dirty look then poked out her tongue, they both giggled. She, unlike her best friend, had blonde hair and pale skin, but shared those same watery blue eyes. Tara was more the compassionate member of the group as well as the voice of reason.  
  
A boy, Tara's twin brother, smiled, "Well Leigh, you could have left with Marcus and co. a month ago when you turned sixteen, you know he had been waiting for you to go with him for almost six months." He laughed to himself. He had short blue hair like his father, something very rare these days. Finn was physically the strongest of the group and probably the best fighter.  
  
The girls stared at the boy, both with horrified looks on their faces, Leigh closed her hand extinguishing the fireball and scowled; the boy's smile grew. Leigh saw Finn smiling; she caught on to his scheme to work her up.   
  
She winked at Tara, "Well I would have but Patsy was going with him and everyone knows we totally hate each other, so I'm only going with you guys because Tara happens to be my best friend." Leigh said smugly; the smile disappeared from Finn's face. The girls rolled around laughing.  
  
[Don't worry bro,] Sol said in private mind-speak, the psychic language Sol's father had taught all of them, [she so likes you.] Sol had purple hair, pale skin and purple eyes just like his parents. He also wore glasses and was considered the brains of the group.  
  
Sol had been Finn's best friend since he could remember. They were inseparable. They had done everything together; they trained together, they ate at each other's house almost every night, they even learned each other's elemental attacks, although they weren't as good as the other. Finn could mind-read, a simple mind at least, he could make things hover; he could even use reveal when he really tried. At the same time, Sol could use parch reasonably well, he could freeze water when he tried, he was also able to use douse. They were very proud of themselves because not many people were able to perform elemental attacks outside of their own element.   
  
Finn and Sol started their crew when they were only eight years old, and they had been training for tomorrow ever since. Of course when Tara found out about their crew she insisted on being in it with her best friend Leigh. When the boys told them that they couldn't join, Tara ran crying to their mother, so rather then having no dessert for the rest of his life, Finn let the girls join the group. Since then they had all trained together hoping one day they might win the world tournament.  
  
Over eight years they learnt how to fight in hand-to-hand combat, in case they lost their weapons in a battle, they studied martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and many other forms of fighting. They had all trained with different weapons but each was best with a certain kind of weapon; Finn was best with swords, Sol was a great marksman with the bow and other projectile weapons, Tara fought best with non-lethal weapons and Leigh very skilled with knives and small blades.  
  
[Be careful reading her dude, she'll singe your eyebrows again.] Finn smiled.  
  
[Bro, you don't need to read her to tell she likes you.] Sol said.  
  
Finn had often thought of Leigh, not like he'd think of his sister or Sol but in a different way. He first noticed her when they were about thirteen; whenever he looked at her he got a funny feeling in his stomach. Sure he liked her, the same way he liked eating roast chicken and potatoes and gravy and carrots and… His stomach began to talk to him interrupting his thoughts.  
  
Sol's stomach began talking back to Finn's, the boys just laughed.  
  
"That's disgusting." The girls screwed up their noses and turned away just as their own stomachs joined the conversation. The girls' faces went bright red. The boys rolled around laughing clutching their ribs.  
  
Tara rolled her eyes, "Oh grow up, let's go Leigh." The girls poked out their tongues at the boys, turned on their heels and stared back towards town.   
  
Finn and Sol got up and brushed themselves off and followed the girls to town.  
  
"So have you got everything packed for tomorrow?" Sol asked.  
  
"Of course I have but I still have to buy a sword when we get to the next town, all I have is the Kris my dad gave me." Finn took out the small curvy knife and watched the moonlight flicker off of it. "It's cool but its better for close combat, you know?" Finn said.  
  
"Yeah, but I got it the other way around, I have my bow but its only good long distance, up close and personal it does squat."   
  
"Well you could pick up a small sword or an axe or mace while I get mine." Finn suggested.  
  
"Cool," Sol took out his gold pouch and sifted though it, "I might have to scratch up some coin though."   
  
"Well, I guess we should get home for dinner, see ya in the morning." Finn waved goodbye.  
  
"Later dude." Sol said as he walked towards his own house, pocketing the pouch.  
  
Finn thought about the next day, he figured he wouldn't get much sleep. When he finally got to his house he found Tara crouching outside their kitchen window.  
  
[What are you doing?] Finn asked.  
  
Tara spun around and waved Finn over. Finn walked over and crouched beside his sister. [Listen.] Tara said pointing to the window.  
  
"I think we should give them to the kids after the ceremony tomorrow." Finn's father Jacob said to his mother.  
  
Finn's mother Marie stood at the stove and stirred tonight's dinner in a large pot. "Are you sure they can handle them, I know I had trouble when my Father first gave me mine."  
  
"Don't worry both Finn and Tara are fine warriors, I've practised with them myself and they are far more powerful then I was at their age." Jacob reassured his wife. He stood up and walked to Marie stood behind her and put his arms around her waist. He whispered in her ear, "It's going to be alright, you heard what the elders said."  
  
"I know but I'm still going to miss them." Marie turned around and hugged her husband. Finn noticed the tears welling in his mother's eyes.  
  
[What did they mean, 'what the elders said'?] Tara asked Finn.  
  
Finn shrugged his shoulders, got up and went for the door. Tara rolled her eyes and followed after Finn. They walked around to the other side of the house and opened the door.  
  
"Hey mom, dad we're home, dinner smells great." Tara said as she pushed past Finn and walked down the hall to the kitchen.  
  
When Finn got to the Tara and Jacob were already seated, Marie carried a pot from the stove and put it on the table. She ladled out a bowl of stew for everyone the put the pot back on the stove. She sat down and joined the others.  
  
No one talked much at dinner; they just sat there and ate. Occasionally Jacob would try to get a conversation going but no one seemed in the mood, they were all dreading the moment they would have to say goodbye. Finn watched his mother, not once did she look up at either of them, he could tell she was very upset. Finn finished his dinner excused himself, said goodnight and went up to his room. He didn't bother changing he just got in bed and tried to go to sleep. Unfortunately he couldn't stop thinking about how sad his mother was. He vowed he would make her proud of him and make her happy. He closed his eyes and eventually drifted off to sleep.  
  
* * * * *  
  
The next day he was woken by Tara, or rather he was shaken awake.  
  
"Get up the ceremony starts in an hour, we need to have everything ready to go." Tara shouted running out the door.  
  
Finn rubbed his eyes and sat up he looked around his room, it was going to be a while before he saw it again. He got out of bed, changed his clothes, picked up his bag and went down stairs. He found his parents downstairs each holding a long item wrapped in cloth.   
  
"Let's go." Jacob said flatly. He walked out the door with Marie close behind him.  
  
[Something weird is going on.] Tara said.  
  
[Don't worry, we'll find out after the ceremony.] Finn replied. He propped his bag up on his shoulder and headed for the door.  
  
Finn and Tara stood out side their house and took a mental picture, neither wanted to forget all the good times they had had within those walls. Finn turned and walked down the path to the elder's temple. Tara sighed and followed her brother.  
  
When they arrived at the temple they found Leigh and Sol waiting outside with one of the elder's monks. Finn and Tara put their packs with Sol and Leigh's and joined them outside the door.  
  
[Something weird is going on bro.] Sol said turning to Finn. [This morning my mum started acting all weird and she had this thing…]  
  
[Wrapped in cloth.] Finn finished.  
  
[How did you know?] Sol demanded.  
  
[My parents had them too. I don't ever remember anyone's parents inside the temple during the ceremony, do you?] Finn asked.  
  
[Now that you mention it, no. What do you think is going on?] Sol asked eagerly.  
  
[I was hoping that you had read someone or got a vision.] Finn confessed.  
  
[I tried my parents but they blocked me and I'd never try to read a monk again.] Sol shuddered remembering the mental attack from the monks. [Anyway, we'll find out soon enough.] He said looking at the temple door.   
  
The door slowly creaked open and eerie golden light spilled out onto them. The monk gestured for them to enter. One after the other, they entered the temple. They found Finn and Tara's parents,   
  
Sol's mother and Leigh's father sitting behind the village elder all holding the mysterious wrapped items.   
  
The elder's monk asked them to kneel before the elder; so all four got down on one knee and waited for the elder to speak.  
  
"Today we are here to initiate these young men and women into the guild of warriors so that they may compete in the world tournament." The old elder began, "but first you will hear a story that all warriors before you have heard. It is the story of eight warriors who risked their lives to save this very world. Over two millennia ago the people of this world sought to use and master the art of alchemy, both for good and evil. However people began to abuse this gift from the gods so it was locked away in four temples called lighthouses. However, the earth soon began to wither as its lifeblood had been sealed away."  
  
"Fortunately not all people had forgotten about the magical powers their ancestors once possessed, these people were called Adepts. People capable of controlling the elements. Eight of these Adept warriors from different lands set out to release the power the lighthouses contained, and eventually they completed their mission. Since then, anyone born in this world has been able to use those same powers if they so choose. So we honour their memory by holding the world tournament where young warriors may battle each other in the spirit of friendship and competition. There are dangers nevertheless, the power that flows though your bodies is neither good nor evil, it is up to each person to choose how he or she will use it."  
  
"Now that you have heard this story I bless you and induct you into the guild of warriors, you are duty bound to never reveal anything you have been told here today. Now, hold out your sword hand." The elder instructed.  
  
Finn held out his right hand and the others followed. The elder closed his eyes and began to mutter a language that none of them have ever heard before. Finn began to feel the ground shaking below him, the water around him churn, the wind above him blow and the fire within him burn. Gold light burst through his hand and yet he could not feel it. The light should have stung his eyes but it didn't. The light began to fade and Finn could see an imprint on the palm of his hand; a small gold disc with a strange symbol in the centre, and a gold ring half an inch away from the rim of the disc. It almost looked like a gold coin with the middle punched out, except where it should be gold it was his own skin colour and when it should the colour of his skin it was gold. Strange, Finn thought. The symbol in the centre of the disc was even stranger; on Finn's hand it was a sword, on Sol's; a bow and arrow, on Tara's; a staff and on Leigh's it was three crossed knives.   
  
"This symbol will let other warriors know you are in competition, it will also let the trial masters know you are to undertake the trials. My monks will explain the rest of what you'll need to know." With that the elder turned and went to his quarters.  
  
One of the monks stood up and went a chest he pulled out two scrolls. He sat in front of them and began. "Congratulations on your induction. Now for some minor details," the monk unrolled the first scroll, "the elder has had vision and has decided the name of your crew, the Spirit Guard. It will be marked on all trial and competition scrolls. "The monk wrote the name on the scroll. "Done. This scroll however is for you," the monk took the second scroll and handed it to Finn. "This is a map of the whole world, it is enchanted. It will show the location of all warrior crews in the immediate area including yourselves. Also as the elder was tired he didn't tell you about you compass on your discs, the marking on your hand, the centre circle will always point the way to the next trial. There are other things about the disc that you'll have to find out yourselves, well I think that's it, I believe you parents have something to give you." The monk stood up and went to the alter at the back of the temple, he knelt down and began to meditate.  
  
Finn's father stood up and spoke, "When we were your age the four of us formed our own crew, one each of our parents before us had done the same, and they gave us these weapons to use and to guard with our lives. Why we cannot tell you yet but when you are ready all will be revealed. These weapons are over a thousand years old and hold very special powers but they are for you to discover. Stand up and receive your birthright." When Jacob had finished, Marie, Claire – Sol's mother, and Robert – Leigh's father stood up with the items wrapped in cloth. Finn and the others stood up and stared at the item's Finn's father had called weapons. Simultaneously, the four adults unwrapped them.   
  
Finn gazed at the beautiful sword Jacob held; it was a large broad sword, silver from what Finn could see, it had three blue gems inlaid at the base of the blade; a powerful weapon indeed.   
  
Tara gasped as her mother unwrapped her weapon to reveal a wooden bo-staff with a band of gold at each end and three in the middle. There was also a yellow gem in the tip of each end.   
  
Sol's mother unwrapped her weapon; an unstrung wooden bow with purple stones cast in to it at various places, a very strange weapon.  
  
Leigh's father unwrapped his weapon; Leigh thought it out place compared with the others. It was a pair of red leather fingerless gloves with streaks of gold woven into the material, an even weirder weapon, if you could call it that. Leigh's father saw the look of disappointment on his daughter's face, he smiled at her and winked. Leigh's look of disappointment was replace by looks of confusion.  
  
"You've each seen the weapons you'll be using but I think it best if we demonstrate why they are so special." Finn's father smiled. "Perhaps outside."  
  
They all filed out side and went behind the temple where people weren't supposed to go.  
  
"I'll go first." Robert volunteered. He slipped the gloves on and held out his hands. The gloves tightened around his hands fitting snugly; a perfect fit. Robert made fists with his hands and three red glowing blades suddenly sprouted from the parts of the gloves between the knuckles. They looked like claws. Robert walked over to a tree, he slashed the tree twice then it fell to pieces.  
  
"Cool huh Leigh?" Robert laughed and Leigh nodded wildly. "And that's only half of it, this is why these weapons are so special." Robert held out his hands the gloves themselves began to glow and change shape until they formed a sai in each hand. All four of the teenager's jaws dropped, as Robert spun the two sai in each hand.  
  
"Alright my turn." Sol's mother said shoving Robert over. She held the bow as if it was strung and as she went to grab the non-existent string a glowing purple string and arrow appeared out of thin air. She aimed at tree a couple hundred meters away and fired. They heard a loud crack as the tree split down the middle.   
  
"Now that's good and all for hitting someone far away but what about close up?" Claire smirked as she gripped each end bow with a hand. Light poured out from the middle as it split in two, then each half began glowing and melted over Claire's hands. When it stopped glowing Claire had a purple armlet on each wrist. Sol raised his eyebrows; Claire saw this and smiled.   
  
She crossed hers wrists as if she was monkey gripping herself, then suddenly she pulled them apart and in each hand was a strange purple glowing weapon; it looked like nothing Sol had seen before.   
  
"This kind of weapon was first created in a land far away, it is very interesting but would normally have a fault in it, they are called three pronged boomerangs, you can throw them to hit a target hard and stay or you can throw them so they hit soft but return. The flaw in the weapon is that once you've thrown it you are unarmed," Claire threw two rangs which struck a tree a sliced it in half. "See I have nothing to defend with right? Well not quite." Claire held up her hands as if she was going to box, she punched wide into the air three times; with each swing a glowing rang launched from the outside of the armlet and spun away.   
  
"Show off," Marie shook her head, she held up she weapon, "This bo is very good for close combat, it allows to beat your opponent senseless without shedding a drop of blood. I never liked killing so this was a good weapon for me, as it will be for Tara." Marie spun the staff around her so fast that it seemed to be a blur.   
  
She stopped it suddenly, "It also retracts and extends so it can be carried easily or be used a walking stick or whatever you want. Like the other weapons it changes form." Marie held the staff horizontally out in front of her. It like the others began to glow yellow. It grew longer in her hands then it appeared to melt, but when it had stopped glowing it had turned into a long chain with a small yellow weight at each end. She began to spin each end until they could no longer see the weights, then all of a sudden she twisted around and threw the chain at another tree. The chain wrapped around the tree and constricted until the chain pulled through the wood and the tree fell to pieces.   
  
"Alright, now for the best weapon." Jacob laughed. Robert snorted and laughed too. Jacob held the sword; he cut through the air with the blade a few times before he spoke. "This sword doesn't have so many magical properties, it relies more on the person using it for its power. However, it too can change." Jacob pointed the sword at the ground and it began to glow blue. The sword split in half and when the light fade Jacob held two identical light blades in each hand.   
  
"These are very good for very close combat, they are lighter and slightly smaller and can be used a lot faster then the heavy blade, it means though that you don't have a free hand to defend yourself. The bow and armlets, the bo and chain and the gloves and sai can all be used to defend yourself once you master their uses, but the only way to defend with a sword is with speed. Finn, when you can stop an arrow from Sol's new bow you will be able to defend yourself against anything, even psyenergy."  
  
"Block psyenergy…" Finn mouthed.   
  
Jacob nodded and smiled. He pointed the two swords at the ground and they fused back together glowing blue light again. Just like before there was now one long sword. Marie, Claire and Robert all returned their weapons back to their original forms. Jacob handed Finn the sword with the hilt pointing towards Finn. Finn went to take the sword, he put his and around the hilt and felt a strange power flux though his being.   
  
Before Jacob let go of the blade end of the sword he said, "Today you must swear an oath, all of you," he glanced at the other teenagers, "you must swear to protect these weapons with your lives." Jacob stared Finn the eyes.   
  
Finn looked back into his father's eyes; there was something in them that told him that this was really important to his father. "I swear I will protect this sword with my life." Finn said solemnly. The others also swore similar oaths.  
  
Jacob let go of the sword, "Alright then, its time for you to leave, do us proud." Jacob hugged Finn then Tara and Maire followed in suit. Marie took out a sword sheath that was attached to leather belt that went from shoulder to hip and gave it Finn. He put it on and slid the sword into the sheath; a perfect fit. Marie gave Tara a similar sheath, Tara retracted the Bo and slid it in to the sheath. Sol's mother hugged him and showed Sol how to change the bow into armlets. Leigh's father hugged her and showed her how the gloves worked. After they said their goodbyes the four adults turned around and walked away.  
  
"I didn't think it would be like this," Tara said, "I thought it would be nicer." She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.   
  
"Why couldn't it be all happy and stuff?" Leigh whinged.   
  
"Because what we are about to do isn't all nice and happy, we're going to be fighting for our lives, well sort of." Finn said sheathing his new sword.   
  
"Shut up Finn." Tara said, ticked because she knew he was right.  
  
"What do you mean sort of?" Leigh asked Finn.  
  
Finn looked up and raised his eyebrows, he held up his right hand, "These little markings on our hands, well like the monk said they have other, properties. A few years ago I went out into the woods to train and I found two crews fighting. It was awesome, they were pretty good fighters and they were really going at it. They all of a sudden this guys goes nuts and his sword starts glowing, his eyes start glowing too and he screams out 'Thousand Swords!' and he starts moving so fast that I could hardly see him, he's bouncing around slicing and slashing this guy he was fighting, then he just stops and just stands there. I looked at the other guy, he just fell over, fallen."  
  
"Whoa dude, you've never told me about that." Sol said, a little betrayed.  
  
"'Cause he made me promise not to tell anyone until I had been through the ceremony… because he taught me how to do it." Finn smiled, "Anyway, after this guy goes down one of his mates comes over and revives him, an Earth Adept." He looked at Tara. "Apparently only Earth Adepts naturally have the psyenergy to bring someone back, anyone else has to practice for ages, otherwise you have to go to an elder and pay to have it done."   
  
"So, we can't die, can we? Oh my God, we're invincible!" Leigh jumped up and down in a circle.  
  
"Not quite. We can die, just not in a battle." Finn rained on her parade.  
  
"Well still, at least we don't have to worry about dying in battle, do we?" Leigh smiled. She looked at Finn's face; he was going to be a downer again.  
  
"Well according to the dude that went down, it hurts like hell. He said you feel dead, but you're just a little bit alive."  
  
"Hang on," Sol put his hand on Finn's shoulder, "I'm still stuck on the bit where you said he taught it to you."  
  
"Yeah well, you can only do it if your weapon of choice is a sword. I knew you were a archer so I didn't ask him to show you too." Finn confessed.  
  
Sol thought to himself, sure it was reasonable to think he wouldn't be much of a swordsman, but it still would have been nice to have been asked. Plus Finn was sworn to secrecy, so Sol let it go. He let go of Finn's shoulder and went for his bag; maybe he could make his own 'Thousand Arrows'. Sol liked that, it sounded good.  
  
"Alright, let's get a move on, we don't want to have to camp close to home on our first day as warriors, we want to get to the first trial as fast as possible and find out as much as we can about it so we can be prepared." Leigh said in her kick butt attitude. She looked at Finn and Sol, there were going to wash out her plan. "What now?" she said in a touchy tone.  
  
"Well its just that ah, no one is going to tell you anything about the trials, for one they won't want the competition and two they're sworn to secrecy, remember what the elder said, we can never reveal anything to people outside the guild." Finn reminded her.  
  
"So we can assume that no one will tell us anything about the trials." Sol finished. Finn looked at him with one eyebrow raised. Sol smiled, "Sorry dude, couldn't help reading you."  
  
"Alright, at least we could get close to it and maybe Sol could get a vision." Leigh suggested.   
  
Finn thought about it for a second, "Ok, that sounds like a good idea."  
  
Tara sighed, "Its about time…" she mumbled under breath and rolled her eyes.  
  
The four of them collected up their stuff and started down the trail. 


	2. Trails To Trials

TRAILS TO TRIALS  
  
Finn looked at his hand and the navi, the name Tara had given the symbols, began to glow, a part of the navi began to move; the centre disc spun round three times then stopped, the sword pointing due west. "I think my navi says to go this way," Finn said pointing west, "what about you guys?"  
  
They all agreed so they started in that direction. Tara and Leigh walked ahead babbling in girl talk impervious to anything else, while Finn and Sol took up the rear. Finn took out the map, he saw a few dots; their's a black dot with the name Spirit Guard above it, plus four red dots each with a various name attached to it but the thing that struck Finn as strange was a white dot back at his hometown only a few kilometres back down the road, it also had the name Spirit Guard above it.   
  
"Hey Sol, check this out," Finn said pointing at the map.  
  
Sol looked over and poured over the map, "Hey what's that white dot?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know, I was hoping you might." Finn confessed.  
  
"It might just be there to show the town where we had our ceremony." Sol suggested.  
  
"Maybe, yeah that's probably it." Finn succumbed.  
  
"Don't worry about it, if it was important, they would have told us something about it."  
  
Finn nodded, "Yeah you're probably right." Finn rolled up the scroll and put it back in his pack.   
  
They jogged a little to catch up to the girls and fell in behind them. They kept walking for hours, Leigh wouldn't let them stop for any longer then five minutes; she was determined to get to the town the trial was in as soon as possible. They watched the landscape go by as they trekked on; they saw fragrant wild flowers, fish swimming in streams, animals scampering around the woodlands and endless varieties of vegetation.   
  
Soon the sky began age, the light began to fade and it almost looked like that the sky was beginning to bleed, it seemed out of place as it was only three o'clock. Finn took his map out again; it seemed there was a town only four or five hours away. He thought about the other crews out there and all of a sudden as if it had read his mind red dots began to pop up on the map, there were eight of them in that town and from what Finn could tell, several heading for it.  
  
"Hey there's a town probably four hours from here in the direction we're heading, I think it's probably the trial town." Finn said.  
  
"Well I don't know about you guys but the thought of sleeping on beds rather then the ground sounds really good to me, its probably about three o'clock now so if we hike flat out we'll be there by maybe seven o'clock." Leigh perked up.  
  
Finn looked at the map again, a red dot was moving fast towards them, a challenger perhaps. "I wouldn't be too sure about that, we're about to have company, get your weapons ready."  
  
Everyone dropped their packs and took up their weapons. Finn could hear hoof beats echoing in the distance, they were faint, but they were growing. Soon they saw dust floating up into the air and then four horses came up over a hill. Four men rode upon those four horses, not teenagers like themselves, but men. Before long the horses and riders were upon them.  
  
"Look what we got here, four fresh faced babies! HA-HA-HA!" The first man laughed. He was the biggest of the four. He wore a dirty cowboy hat, a red and black shirt, black pants and big leather boots. He was built very well, perhaps a little over built. His face was dirty and unshaven, and when he laughed you could see he was missing a few teeth. The other men looked fairly much the same.  
  
"Good one boss!" One of the other men said.  
  
"Do you want to fight or what?" Leigh demanded.  
  
What was she doing? Finn, Sol and Tara were all thinking to themselves, these guys would have seen way more battles then Leigh and yet she challenged them outright.  
  
"Well ok there, little lady, but remember, if you lose we get half you gold. HA-HA-HA!" The boss and his men laughed as they dismounted. They took out their weapons; the boss and another man had swords, one had an axe and the last had a mace. The weapons didn't look like they were magic, like Finn's, just normal run of the mill weapons.  
  
Both crews took up battle positions; Leigh against the boss, Finn against the man with a sword, Sol against the man with an axe and Tara against the man with a mace, four battles broke out.  
  
It was the boss who moved first but before he could hit her three small blades sprouted from each glove just as Robert has shown her, Leigh caught the sword in the left blades then used the ones on her right glove to slash the man's chest. He stumbled backward and fell over dropping his sword; he clutched his chest where Leigh had struck. Leigh's gloves started glowing and changed into two sai. The man grabbed his sword and stood up, he cursed at Leigh and held up his hand, his palm facing Leigh. His hand glowed red, he yelled out "Fume!" and at that a snake of fire erupted from his hand, Leigh braced herself and the fire hit her. Leigh could tell it was fairly weak, only someone who had never battled before or hardly ever trained would be affected by it, plus it helped that she was a fire adept as well.   
  
"You want to see a real fume?" Leigh asked, she held both sai in one hand and held up the other. Just as the man had done, she yelled flare and a fire snake shot from her hand, it hit the boss with full force, and again he landed on his ass. He got back up; Leigh could tell he didn't have much left in him; two hits from her would do that to you. He got up again and tried to charge her but she side stepped him and struck him in the back with one of her sai, he hit the ground face down and didn't get back up. Leigh mumbled under her breath, 'I really thought you'd be more of a challenge.'  
  
Finn's battle was over quicker and was less eventful then Leigh's. Finn held up his sword, his opponent charged him to begin with; Finn blocked the attack with his own sword. Finn twisted around struck the cowboy across the right shoulder; he fell down to his knees. He got back up and his hand glowed purple he yelled 'Ray!' Thunderbolts struck at Finn, but with all the training he had done with Sol, he could hardly feel it. Finn smiled; the look on the other man's face was a look of sheer terror, Finn held up his hand, it glowed blue and he yelled 'Frost!'. Suddenly waves of icy air flooded from his hand, they hit the man and he was covered in ice. Finn charged the man and slashed the ice; the man fell on his face, he was down for the count. He sat down and watched the others finish their fights.  
  
Sol's attacker also chose to charge but when he got close enough, Sol punched at the axe and as he did a rang shot from his armlet and caught the axe and carried it away. Sol hit his attacker with an uppercut, and combined with a rang sent the man flying. He landed on his rear. He got back up and smiled, Sol raised an eyebrow. Sol heard the man laughing and when he stood to face Sol his hand was glowing blue, he yelled 'Frost!' and waves of cold air washed over Sol, Sol kneeled down as ice tried to form over him but he willed it not to, just as he had when he fought with Finn.   
  
Sol stood back up, "Nice try dude, but you got nothing, and I on the other hand, do," Sol held up his hand glowing purple, "Plasma!" Purple streams of light shot from the sky and struck Sol's man sending him flying even further then before. The man slowly began to get back up, Sol sighed, he held up his hands and the armlets glowed and changed into a bow. He pulled back the invisible string and the string an arrow appeared, when the man had fully stood up, Sol let the arrow fly. It hit him in the middle of the chest and he went down, this time he stayed down. Sol smiled, "See, I told you I have everything." He laughed as he watched Leigh finish her battle also. The both of them sat with Finn and watched Tara finish her fight.  
  
Tara held her staff ready for her opponent's attack, the man swung his mace around his head so fast it seemed like a blur, Tara realised she couldn't stop that mace if he threw it at her, her staff began to glow and change into a chain. They circled each other. All of a sudden the man let the mace go, Tara held out her hand and it glowed yellow, she yelled 'Spire!' and a spire of rock fell as if from nowhere blocking the mace just a meter from her. Tara started spinning the chain as he had practised. The man knew he could fight in hand to combat so he held his hands out and they began to glow yellow, he shouted 'Growth!' and vines sprang from the ground below Tara, but she countered them by slicing up with her chain. She kept spinning it around her, then she spun around her whole body and released it at her opponent, it wrapped around him and he fell to the ground. He struggled to get out of it.  
  
Tara walked up to him, "If you keep fighting it, it'll only tighten," Tara said as a matter-of-factly. The man stopped moving. Finn, Leigh and Sol got up and walked over to them.   
  
"You have two choices, you can either forfeit and give us half your money and two of your horses or Tara can finish you off and you'll still lose half your gold, at least our way your won't be ported to a temple and be embarrassed about being beaten by two teenage boys and two girls." Leigh said with her hand on her hip.  
  
The man thought to himself then replied, "Revive boss and ask him."  
  
Tara held out her hands, concentrated and revived the boss, Leigh asked him about the arrangement and he agreed to give up two horses after some persuasion from Tara's chain. So the four men rode off, two on each horse.  
  
"Awesome, now we have enough gold to buy a small house plus two healthy horses," Sol said, stroking the mane of one of the horses, "I'm glad your on my side Leigh, I'd hate to bargain with you." Sol laughed. Finn joined in.  
  
Since Leigh had made the deal she demanded that the black mare be hers, neither Sol or Finn could argue with that, not that they'd want to. Tara decided that since Leigh got the mare that she should get the stallion. Sol and Finn made a plan, they let her have the horse but they got part of her share of the gold so they could buy their own horses in the next town. Finn ended up on the back of Leigh's horse, not that he'd argue about that, and Sol on the back of Tara's.  
  
Finn felt a little weird being so close to Leigh and his hands almost felt numb when he had to put his hands around her waist so he didn't fall. Although, Leigh wasn't complaining, she liked having Finn so close to her.   
  
They rode for about two hours and arrived at the town, they were lucky enough not to come across any other crews so they got there at about five thirty.   
  
When they reached the town they noticed that all the shops were still open, they asked around and found out that all trial towns are open twenty-four hours a day so crews can prepare to take the trials. Also, people come from many towns to watch something called preliminary combat or more commonly called precom, so they got a lot of business from the spectators.   
  
Tara went and booked them into an inn for the night, while Leigh and Finn took the horses to the stables. Sol went off by himself to find a place to buy horses.  
  
Finn and Leigh led the horses down the market streets; there were people selling all kinds of things, clothes, food, horses, livestock, weapons, and armour; anything you wanted. Neither Finn nor Leigh said much on their walk, for both were still thinking about the ride on the horse. Eventually they found a stable behind the inn where they were staying, it was close but you had to walk around several blocks just to get to it. It was however out of sight of all prying eyes.   
  
Leigh took her horse, Blackhoof, to one of the stalls while Finn took Tara's horse Wildheart to another. They closed the gates and met back up at the front of the stable.  
  
"Finn," Leigh started, "there's, umm, something I've been wanting to tell you for a while." She twisted her long red hair.  
  
Finn sat down and twisted a piece a straw between his fingers, "Ok, what is it." He felt his stomach crawling up his throat.  
  
"Well, umm, its hard to say…" Leigh edged around the subject. She sat down across from Finn and stared at the ground; she was afraid she might run away if she looked at his face.  
  
"Is it that you like me?" Finn asked out of the blue. Leigh's head snapped to face Finn; it was as red as a strawberry. He wasn't sure if it was red because she was embarrassed or if she was angry.  
  
"How did you know!" Leigh demanded, then she put her hand over her mouth, she realised she has confessed to liking him. Then she figured that since he already knew how she felt she might as well find out how he knew.  
  
"Sol, he read you." Finn confessed. He looked up at her, his face was red too, but Leigh could tell he was telling the truth.   
  
Leigh looked away from Finn, she couldn't stand to look at him, she was too embarrassed, "How long have you known?" Leigh bit her lip.  
  
"About a year," Finn confessed, "remember, you singed his eyebrows." Finn laughed.  
  
Leigh laughed too, "I remember that."  
  
Finn looked at Leigh, "I feel the same way." Finn said flatly.  
  
Leigh's jaw dropped, he liked her, like she liked him.  
  
Sol wandered down a street, browsing the markets and looking for horses for Finn and himself. Sol's father was an expert on horses and Sol knew a thing or two so Finn and Sol agreed that Sol find and buy each of them a horse. He was walking by an alley between buildings when he saw three guys hassling an elderly man.  
  
"Give it up old man, all we want is your gold and we'll leave you alone, well after we beat you up first, HA-HA-HA!" The ringleader of the gang laughed as he grabbed the collar of the old man's coat.  
  
"I don't have any gold, please don't hurt me!" the elderly man begged.  
  
"Stop lying to me!" The ringleader said as he raised his clenched fist. The old man cowered in fear.  
  
That was all Sol could stand, "Hey, leave him alone!" Sol shouted.  
  
The two lackeys took out some throwing knives and the ringleader took out a small sword, "Or what?" The ringleader tormented.  
  
Sol held up his hands, "Or this, Tornado!" Sol's hand glowed purple as funnels of air twisted and turned, they picked the three gang members and carried them off into the distance. The old man stared at where his attackers had just stood; he gaped in awe.  
  
"I haven't seen power like that in years…" The old man said under his breath. He caught his breath and stood up, "Thank you, thank you so much, how can I ever repay you?" the old man said taking Sol's hand and shaking perhaps a little too hard.  
  
"It's alright, I didn't do it for a reward, I was just looking for a couple of horses for…" Sol began.  
  
"Horses?" The old man cut in, "you're looking for horses for transport?" The old man asked.  
  
"Well yes," Sol admitted, "why, do you have some for sale?"  
  
"No, but I might have something better." The old man said mysteriously, "Come with me and show you something you might like." The old man turned and walked to the end of the alley.  
  
What could it hurt to indulge the old man, Sol thought to himself, he's just being kind because you helped him. Sol picked up his bag and followed the old man. The old man led through the market place and they eventually ended up in front of an old antiques store. The old man fished around in his pockets and eventually pulled out a key; he put it in the lock, turned it and unlocked the door. He ushered Sol into the store. The locked the door and pocketed the key.  
  
"This way," the old man said as he swerved around chests and all kinds furniture. He got to the back of the store and opened the door. Sol carefully edged around all of the antiques in the store and finally made it to the back. The old man disappeared into the darkness, Sol followed. Sol took a few steps into the room, suddenly the door slammed behind him, the old man clapped his hands three times, and torches on the walls lit up. Sol looked around; he was standing in an impossibly large cavern, the roof was so high he couldn't even guess how high it was. The cavern was virtually empty except for a pillar with a purple vest resting on it.  
  
"I thought you said you had some sort of transport," Sol said staring at the vest.  
  
"Indeed I did," the old man said his hands pressed together, "and this is it." He picked up the vest and held it out to Sol. "Put it on and you'll see what I mean."  
  
Sol took the vest and slipped it on, for something that looked so old it was certainly well taken care of. Sol buttoned it up, as soon as he buttoned the last button, it glowed purple.  
  
"Excellent, it has accepted you." The old man danced around on the spot laughing and clapping.  
  
"What do you mean, it has accepted me?" Sol asked.  
  
"Don't you know about psyenergetic items and the spirits that dwell within them?" the old man asked.  
  
"No, that sounds crazy." Sol laughed.  
  
"It is far from crazy. Before the time of the warriors of the age of the Golden Sun there were magical beasts and warriors far stronger than any warrior born in the last thousand years. Their powers were so great that when the warrior or beast's body died, their power or their spirit could not, so rather then wandering the world alone and tormented they inhabited weapons and armour so that other warriors could use their power and therefore the spirits of the departed warrior and the living one could mingle and become one. This meant that the spirit would never be alone, it would always have a companion." The old man explained.  
  
"For real? That's incredible. So any weapon that can perform its own psyenergy has an old spirit inside it?" Sol asked in awe.  
  
"Yes and no, all psyenergetic items but not all of them are old." The old man continued, "warriors who have proved their power, their spirits can also occupy items, even if they only just died. First they possess a special kind of blacksmith or ferrous, one not of this world, then the blacksmith will forge an item and the spirit will pass on into the item. A beast's spirit will only occupy armour while a warrior's spirit could occupy either. There it shall forever reside hoping a warrior worthy of its power will someday find it so their spirits will mingle. When this happens, the living warrior's eyes will glow and the warrior will be able to wield unimaginable power."   
  
That guy who taught Finn the Thousand Swords attack, Sol thought, he must have had a weapon that had a spirit in it too.  
  
"Not quite," the old man said.   
  
Sol was shaken from his thoughts, had he just been read?   
  
"Yes, I read you, anyway, that man's attack did not come from the weapon although he did use the spirits power; it wasn't the spirits attack, it was a fighting technique." The old man explained.   
  
"Either way, this is not why I brought you here, that vest is why. Hold out your hands and use the Whirlwind psyenergy in the area in front of you." The old man stepped back.  
  
Sol shrugged his shoulders, he held up his hands and they began to glow a single funnel of air formed in front of him. As soon as it had fully formed it too began to glow purple, then it began it dissipate in to purple light and flew around to Sol's back. The light began to form two long glowing wings attached to the back of Sol's shoulders. They began to flap and he floated off the ground, he could fly. Sol thought about going higher and the wings flapped harder as if they read his mind.   
  
They took him wherever he wanted. He soared around the cavern over and over again; it felt fantastic. Sol decided he should go back down, so he flew back down to the ground, when his feet touched the ground the wings simply faded away.  
  
"So what do you think?" The old man asked.  
  
"Its great, how much do you want for it?" Sol asked.  
  
"Well I've been saving this for a long time, how about five thousand pieces of gold?" The old man offered.  
  
Sol thought to himself, five thousand was worth two good horses, and he still needed to get one for Finn, although Finn and Leigh both seemed to enjoy riding together, so what's was wrong with both of them sharing a horse until they got some more money. "Alright, five thousand pieces." Sol counted out the gold and handed it over.   
  
The old man explained that the wings only needed one whirlwind to take off and fly but each time you landed you needed to do it again, after a while of practise Sol could make the wings form without even making a whole whirlwind, the old man remarked many times how powerful Sol was.   
  
Sol realised he should get back to the others. He said good-bye to the old man after he had been led back outside. He headed back to the inn trying to think how he would explain to Finn how he had spent their horse money.   
  
Finn and Leigh decided to put off talking about their feelings so they left the stables and went out and searched for information about the trials. They tried asking around in the markets but there were too many people trying to sell them stuff they didn't need that they couldn't get any information from anyone. They walked around for a while and found Tara sitting in a bar.  
  
"Hey, when mum finds out you've been drinking you're going to be in it deep." Finn laughed as he sat beside his sister. Leigh sat on Tara's other side.   
  
[Shh, I'm trying to listen to those guys in the corner. They've been talking about the trials.] Tara said sipping on a glass of water.  
  
Finn and Leigh tried to listen in but the four men sitting at the table got up, paid their bill and left.  
  
[What did you find out?] Finn asked.  
  
[A few things. You know that thing called a precom we heard about, well it turns out that it's a battle you take before the trial. Whoever wins gets to take the trial, but if you lose you have to come back next time they hold it. That's a month away.] Tara explained.  
  
[So when is the trial?] Leigh asked.  
  
[Tomorrow.] Tara said flatly.  
  
[That doesn't leave us much time to train.] Finn sighed.  
  
[Who needs to train, we beat those guys easy today.] Leigh smiled taking a swig of her juice.  
  
[Those guys were nothing compared to what we'll be facing in the trials.] Finn said angrily.   
  
[Yeah right, how good can they be?] Leigh laughed.  
  
[He's right Leigh; the guys in the precom will have trained for years. I've seen some crews that have guys in their twenties, they've trained for over ten years before they even took their first trial. We just got inducted; these guys are going to be hard.] Tara explained.  
  
[It's a good thing we started training when we were eight, we have at least have eight years experience.] Leigh said.  
  
[Yeah but if they started training when they were eight, so that means that they have eighteen years experience.] Finn said. Raining on Leigh's parade had become a natural talent of Finn's today.  
  
"Hey guys you'll never guess what happened to me!" Sol said sitting beside Finn. He ordered a glass of juice.  
  
"You found us some horses?" Finn guessed.  
  
"Well, ah, not quite." Sol laughed nervously.   
  
Sol explained how he bought the vest with their horse money. After Finn had calmed down, just short of decking Sol, Sol explained everything thing he had learned about psyenergetic items. Then the others filled Sol in about all they had learnt about the trial. They decided they should go back to the inn and get some rest, if they were going to stand any chance in precom. 


End file.
